


I Want To Be Your Canary

by Methoxyethane



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Batman References, Comedy, Comic-Con, Conventions, Cosplay, Crossplay, Fluff, M/M, nerds being nerds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-15 23:16:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16073423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Methoxyethane/pseuds/Methoxyethane
Summary: Lance was trying not to hold his breath. Just because he and SpeedOfRed - of Keith, his real name was something ridiculous like Keith - were both supposed to be at this convention didn’t mean they’d ever actually run into each other.(Or, Lance and Keith's adventures as cosplayers)





	1. Two Bat Boys

Lance was trying not to hold his breath. Just because he and SpeedOfRed - of Keith, his real name was something ridiculous like _Keith_ \- were both supposed to be at this convention didn’t mean they’d ever actually run into each other. What were the chances that two random that only have the same Batman fan server in common to run into each other out of allll these thousands of comic book nerds? Especially when Red wouldn’t even tell anyone who he was cosplaying as because he was too embarrassed?

It was a stupid hope anyway. Red said he probably couldn't get the time off to make it at all, told Lance he’d send him a message if he made it so they could try and meet but not to hold his breath. MAYBE he'd make it to the convention and MAYBE they could finally meet when he did. Lance had only been here an hour and he was already looking at every person he passed wondering if they were really Red.

God, he was so lame. Lance didn’t even know how he could have a crush on the guy without ever having seen his face before, but the conversations they had were some of the best parts of Lance’s stupid all-work-and-no-play life. Talking to Red every night was something Lance looked forward to all day, finally being able to MEET him was like… Yeah, haha. Too good to be true, he knew.

He had to focus on having fun, and forget about whoever Red was for now. He hadn’t spent hundreds and hundreds of his hard earned dollars to get here in this awesome Red Hood cosplay NOT to have a good time, right? Well okay yeah he wasn’t wearing the mask right now so it was currently less Red Hood than Jason Todd specifically, but that was better for cruising around trying to flirt with cuties anyway because without it they could all see his handsomeness and rockin blue eyes. Girls went NUTS over his eyes, you know. The leather jacket over a leather costume nonsense was TOTALLY worth it for all the photo ops.

Speaking of which, there was a Nightwing somewhere around here Lance had to find. More than one girl had mentioned this killer Dick Grayson cosplayer around here, and the last person to ask for his picture had even asked if they knew each other since their costumes were both the same quality. Lance had to get at least one pic with him, maybe check out to see if he was gonna be Lance’s rival or a good wingman to team up with.

Or, Lance decided with a dropped jaw as he caught sight of a plump, leather bound ass shining at him, maybe the Nightwing cosplayer would be the sole target for Lance’s flirtations tonight because got DAMN that was a fine body and Lance hadn’t even seen the front yet.

His hair looked like it was real and not a wig, partly because of how soft and shiny-black it looked but mostly because no one would ever BUY a wig that was cut into a ridiculous mullet like that. It worked for the costume of course, because like 70% of artists drew Dick Grayson with a righteous mullet about that length anyway, so between the muscles that nicely shaped back of his was showing off to the absurd hair, Nightwing was the natural obvious choice to cosplay as. Lance himself had significantly fewer latino heroes to pick from, but as long as he had the white streak in his hair with the red bat symbol there was pretty much no way NOT to recognize his costume.

And then the guy finally finished talking to whoever he had been conversing with to turn around, and hooooly SHIT what had Lance just been thinking before because right now all he could see was the shiniest violet eyes he’s ever set his gaze upon. What the FUCK, nevermind his _body_ , how was this guy’s FACE this beautiful?!

The domino mask did nothing to hide the shape of his face, his sharp jaw and the cheekbones and the eyes, and then he smiled as he waved his friend goodbye and fuuuuck that SMILE! Deadly. Cupid’s arrow, right in Lance’s dick. Er- heart. He meant heart.

...Both, he decided as he and the other cosplayer caught eyes, (easily enough since they were only a few feet apart by then.) He could totally mean both.

The Nightwing blinked, giving Lance a glance up and down his body that lingered on what Lance would like to think was his physique before flicking back up to focus on his eyes. Which left them at _holy shit their eyes had met_ , and they’d been looking at each other for just long enough that Lance figured he should maybe say something?

He took a step forward, towards the other boy. Said boy took an instinctive step backwards, which then turned into a weird little heel-twist turn as his pale face turned red and he spun back and forth in place as his eyes scattershot-ed around the room in an attempt to find anything to look at that wasn’t Lance.

Had Lance... done something to offend him? “Um. Hi?”

“I uh,” the Nightwing stuttered, finally giving up to face Lance. “Yeah, I mean, hello.”

There was an uncomfortable silence. Impressive, in a convention hall full of people.

Lance cleared his throat. “So…”

“I like your shirt!” The Nightwing belted out in adorable awkwardness.

Lance paused. Glanced down at himself, confirming that he was indeed wearing what he thought he was. “I’m kind of not wearing one. Do you… do you mean the bodysuit or the jacket?”

“Yes!” The other boy winced loudly. “I. Both?”

The grin that stretched across Lance’s face was positively irrepressible. Oh dear god, this guy wasn’t just sexy, he was ADORABLE! Lance wanted to take him home already.

“I like your pants,” Lance returned smoothly, turning up the charm to max. “And I’m liking what’s filling them, too.”

Nightwing blushed a little, but mostly laughed and rolled his eyes, instantly more comfortable now that Lance had said something douchey. _Score_. “I’m not sure you’re even wearing your pants right at all, since I’m looking straight at a giant asshole.”

Even better, he was SASSY, too! Had Lance just found the perfect man? Oh he was NOT letting this one get away.

He slung his arm around the surprised Nightwing’s shoulder, dragging him close. “Ooohhh, you and me are gonna have some some FUN,” he declared, holding up his own cell phone for a quick selfie-with-a-honey. He dropped the camera,using the arm still slung around his shoulder to steer them both into a walk. “So, you sign up for the cosplay contest? Because if you haven’t, we should sign up together but I’m thinking the two of us look SLAMMIN’ hot as a team.”

“I… wasn’t really planning on entering at all.” Nightwing hadn’t shoved him off, so Lance decided that meant they were officially friends now. He could probably drop his arm without risk of the other boy’s escape. “People don’t seem to like me much, so going on stage would be like… What the hell would I even say?”

“Whhhaaaaat, that’s ridiculous! It’s been like three seconds since we met and I already like you.”

“I called you an asshole in those three seconds.”

“I honestly didn’t give you the opening to do much else.”

Nightwing laughed cutely, and how was Lance actually doing well right now he should already have been rejected so hard. “And as for the stage,” Lance went on, “You don’t need to worry about a thing. I was a total theater kid, I can rock out a script for skit for us in like, a minute.”

His new friend looked dubious, but intrigued. “Yeah, I don’t know…”

Shit, how did Lance keep him from leaving then. And he was hoping cosplaying would be less forward than asking to make out, but ALAS. Still no luck. “Well,” he tried delicately, not wanting to scare off this ultimate Hottie among Hotties by being too eager. “There’s a panel with Jim Lee in like a half hour, wanna go it together? We can hang out til it starts and you can decide if my company is sufferable enough to bother teaming up for a contest with me.”

A charming little snort through his nose in place of a laugh. “Alright,” he finally agreed, a little tilt of his head as he brushed a lock of hair behind his ear with a small smile. “Screw it, you got me.”

They ended up hanging out… oh, the rest of the night, about? All afternoon up until the cosplay contest at six, by which time he’d charmed his new friend into trusting him to drag his shy ass out onto a stage. And like, Lance hadn’t come alone, he was supposed to meet up with friends but ended up continuously texting delays because he was having so much fun and didn’t wanna risk not being able to find this guy again tomorrow. He was gorgeous, funny, liked the same comics as Lance and even seemed to enjoy his annoying company? His friends would understand, Lance wasn’t letting someone like this slip through his fingers.

And no they didn’t win the cosplay contest, but they DID get a prize for best skit. After hanging out with his Nightwing all day Lance had gotten a perfect idea, wrote a script out for a skit where the punchline was that Dick and Jason had switched bodies that got the whole audience busting their guts laughing, and didn’t even need his stage-shy friend to remember a lot of lines because Lance-as-Nightwing-in-Redhood’s-Body did most of the talking.

Between all the preparations and greenroom waiting and the judging period they were busy with the contest for hours. Even better is that they weren’t so busy they couldn’t still talk, and had spent the entire boring waiting period between performers they couldn’t see quietly sharing memes they’d both seen before on their phones and giggling.

So, Lance had managed to scam the hottest honey in the entire convention into spending the entire day with him, even throughout his constant and shameless flirtations. And then it was night and they were both exhausted and starving, and now that the contest had ended Lance’s friends Plaxum and Swirn and finally tracked him down to congratulate him on their skit and now his Nightwing was looking all awkward like he wanted to escape because excited girls had shown up, and if Lance was finally gonna get around to asking for his phone number and like, you know, REAL NAME now had to be when.

“So, uh,” Lance tried not to be nervous, reminded himself that they’d been sharing internet dick jokes an hour before and this was peanuts. “Anyway it looks like I’m gonna be getting dinner with the girls, did you wanna maybe like. Trade numbers so we can meet up again tomorrow? If you’re still gonna be here, I mean.”

His Nightwing had that look on his face again, the cute one with big shiny averted eyes and fluttering lashes that betrayed underneath his cool guy exterior he was actually a shy little kitten. “Ah right, that’s actually a good idea.” He pulled out his phone, looking back up to Lance. “Should I just text you mine, or…?”

“Uh, sure!” Lance agreed, trying not to sound too eager as he recited his number for the other boy to type into his iphone with a little quirk of one eyebrow. “Oh shit, uh, my name by the way is, uh- ”

“- Lance?”

Lance paused. “Huh? Yeah?”

For some reason the other cosplayer looked even more confused than he did, still looking at his phone instead of Lance. “I already…. have your number in here. You’re not uh… Um. Cupid’s Sniper?”

Lance’s jaw dropped. No way. No fucking way, that couldn’t mean that… “I - are you fucking…”

Blushing redder than he had all day, Nightwing - _Keith_ confirmed in a quiet almost-mumble, “Yeah um. Hi? It’s me, Speed of Red.”

“You - I - YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO TELL ME WHEN YOU GOT HERE!” Lance screeched like an owl, confused and surprised and trying to remember everything he did today to know if he should be embarrassed, too. “You never texted me, you never sent me any messages!”

“I - I don’t know! I was embarrassed, and then I met - You never sent me any messages either, not one all day!”

“Of course I didn’t, I was too distracted by your butt!”

That left over a slightly awkward silence wherein Keith blushed hard enough to steam. “My...?”

“A-anyway, I wasn’t gonna bug you with a text, I thought you were supposed to be working all weekend! You’re the one who was supposed to tell ME if you were gonna show up, dude. Were you just gonna blow off ever texting me?”

Less embarrassed, more confused now. “Lance I blew you off… for YOU, though? Are you mad right now?”

“Well, you didn’t KNOW it was for me, though!”

And past confused into kind of annoyed at Lance, which was an expression he was very familiar with from very many faces. “Yeah but it was still for YOU! I - have you SEEN you? If I told you I met a hot guy at the con I was at you’d totally tell me get all over that, you say that shit to Hunk and Allura all the time!”

“I would not have told to go get some,” Lance defended hotly, “I’d have gotten jealous and told you to wait right there so I could show up and crash the party as a third wheel!”

This silence was the one where Lance realized he had said some dumb things in the last minute. Uh oh. He could recover from this, right?

Instead of noticing Lance was making an ass of himself, Keith just looked adorably confused. “But… it’s just the two of us? You’re not a third wheel.”

Lance blinked. And then, because this was Keith, or Red, or _whoever_ and this was just the sort of thing that WOULD fly right over his head Lance should have KNOWN, he burst out laughing. God, what the hell? KEITH. The hottest cosplayer he’d ever laid eyes on and the funnest person he’d ever talked to all rolled into one, and Lance just couldn’t handle it. How on earth had he met the perfect man?

“Nevermind,” Lance giggled. “You’re right, there is no third wheel. My bad.”

Obviously relieved, Keith ended up doing that super cute flirty thing where he tucked a lock of his hair behind his ear. “So um,” he started, eyes once again averted shyly like the beginning of the afternoon. “Since we already have each other’s phone numbers, maybe getting each other’s hotel room numbers would be better instead?”

“Or,” Lance grinned, sliding in close. “Maybe take it a step further and exchange room keys, too. I got a spare.”

Keith turned redder than a nuclear explosion. Two feet away, Plaxum and Swirn were laughing their asses off.

 

\--

 

[Their costumes, Lance on the right Keith on the left](https://78.media.tumblr.com/e60c13b75f8023a6c92e518347cf7dab/tumblr_inline_pfi9sdRZpT1r52b3z_1280.jpg)

 


	2. I Want To Be Your Canary

 

“Green Arrow, which one of you would win in a fight?” Someone in the audience asked.

In the seat next to Lance his boyfriend smirked, flipping the blonde hair of his wig over his shoulder. Lance gave a little laugh, rubbing at the back of his head. “Uhhh I’ve got a few stipulations for that. Long range fight or short, and naked or wearing pants?”

The panel’s audience laughed, but not as hard as they did when Lance continued, “You know what it really doesn’t matter, we all know she’d have me on my knees no matter what.”

This was the fourth convention Lance and Keith had been to together, and the third since they’d been dating. But it was also as such the fourth anniversary of their meeting in person and the third anniversary of their being a real official couple, because VoltroCon was where they had done both of those things so far, so being here was as romantic a way to spend the date as any.

Keith certainly loved it, soaking up the attention he got in costume. He was generally a pretty introverted person, but at conventions and online he had a common bond of nerdiness with everyone he came across that made it easier for him to open up. Easier still when he was hiding behind a costume, getting in character easily and having fun when he did. Of course, as good as he was at roleplaying Lance’s favorite Keith was still the one he got when they were alone.

“SpeedOfRed, you only started crossplaying recently, right? How do you like this Black Canary cosplay as compared to when you used to play as dudes?”

“I love it,” Keith said into the microphone with a grin and a waggle of his eyebrows. “I get about a hundred times as many photoshoots than my old costumes. Turns out sexy bad girls showing off their ass are popular even when they’re not really girls.”

Everyone laughed again, but Lance knew for his part he’d gotten popular only after pairing up for couples cosplays with Keith. Individually they were good, but together they were fuckin’ _dynamite_.

They’d known it as soon as they met, too. They’d just had such perfect freaking chemistry, they’d ended up hanging out the entire weekend and then exchanged numbers and found out they’d been talking online for a full year even before then, like fate itself had been trying to bring them together.

Of course, because they were useless nerds they may have made out a bit that con but it had taken Lance a whole nother year to actually ask Keith OUT, and rather than a couple’s cosplay they had been Zuko and Sokka which. Yeah. But in the end Lance got his date, and pictures of Sokka groping Zuko’s butt were more popular than either of them had expected they’d be, and uh… yeah. It’d been a good time. A REALLY good time. They’d like, moved in together since that and everything.

The next audience member was less specific with their question, not only failing to address either one of them as individuals but not even clarifying if it was for the cosplayers or in-character. “What do two love about each other?” was all they asked, the vagueness making Keith pause with one of his famous adorably pouty little frowns.

Lance on the other hand, was utterly in his element. “What I love,” he started with a grin that drew attention and the snap of photo lights. “Is how no matter how cool and badass my baby pretends to be on the outside, I get to see all the cute and soft sides you try so hard to hide.” By the end of the sentence he was looking right as Keith, batting his eyelashes unnecessarily when the audience wouldn't be able to pick up through the hood and eyemask anyway. It would make Keith roll his eyes and blush, though.

“I love your passion and drive, you’re so determined and never give anything up once you’ve set your mind to it.” He said directly to Keith. “God, like, I could go on forever? Your eyes sparkle when you laugh, and god, the SOUND of your laugh just makes me weak at the knees. I love how hard it is to get close to you, and how loyal you are to the few that are.” Keith was doing that cute eye aversion thing he did when Lance embarrassed him in public, which was perfect and meant he was doing this right. “I love the way your hair is a mess every morning, and how it takes like a full hour for you to wake up and stop being an angry little morning demon to turn into a real person. I love the fact that I get to work with you, and come home and sleep next to you, too. And I love how you balance me out and make me work harder to keep up with you, make me a better man just so I can be worthy of standing at your side.”

Lance might have gone on, but at this point the general delighted squeeing and laughter from the audience was a little too much to fight over. He’d sufficiently made his point, and made his partner turn into a blushing mess that he was going to take great delight in looking up the pictures of online later.

The rest of the panel went on pretty much as such. Basic questions about how keith manages to pass so well, what padding he uses (none for his ass, POW! All Natural and all Lance’s, baby!). Do Green Arrow and Black Canary worry about each other in battle, and whether or not Oliver had ever made Dinah use her Canary Cry in bed and shattered his eardrums. You know, all the basic fun stuff. It was a really good time, and the costumes were a great choice.

They had a photoshoot scheduled right after this, outside near the fountains. The hotel was nice so the fountain plaza was absolutely gorgeous, and Lance noticed right away that this would actually be a really nice place to corner his boyfriend with the question tonight.

In fact, Lance realized as he checked his phone for the time, the panel had actually ended earlier than they’d planned. The photoshoot wasn’t for a half hour, meaning the photographers and other cosplayers hadn’t even shown up yet. Which meant he had Keith alone right _now_.

“You’re completely embarrassing, by the way,” Keith was saying, wandering over to a bench to sit down and kick his feet up. The heels on those boots made his legs and ass look fantastic, but Lance knew from personal experience how bad they must hurt his poor feet. “I can’t believe you spouted all that sap to a whole panel full of people.”

Lance grinned, knowing Keith wouldn’t think twice when he dropped to one knee on the ground since it put them near eye level with each other. “I couldn’t help myself, I meant every word!”

“I know you did, that’s the _problem_ ,” Keith huffed with a little resigned smile. “You’re such a hopeless romantic.”

Indiscreetly fiddling with the contents of his pocket, Lance laughed in a way he hoped didn’t look as nervous as it really was. “Well tonight it’s more like hope _ful_ romantic.”

Keith raised a curious eyebrow, watching as Lance pulled out the small box he’d been hiding. When the box opened his breath halted in an audible gasp, pretty eyes fluttering wide with excitement and wonder as Lance revealed the ring he’d probably had on his person at all times for the last three months.

“I, uh, had Hunk help show me how to make rings, and after about thirty million practice tries…” He offered up the ring to Keith, a perfect polished band of black metal. “It’s um, tungsten? I figured you’d like it better than just buying some clunky jewel for you, even if it was tempting to shower you in diamonds.”

Keith looked like he hadn’t taken a single breath since that gasp, big eyes shining beautifully with a range of emotions Lance could only begin to pick out. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he continued. “A-anyway, uh. You’ve become the most important thing in my entire life, and I don’t wanna spend a single day without you, Keith. Or your butt, I also deifnitely need you butt in my life.” He finally elicited a small chuckle out of Keith form that, ensuring Lance that he was in fact alive and still capable of breathing. “I love you,” he stated absolutely. “I love you, and I want you to marr-”

Lance’s words were cut off by his lover launching himself forward into Lance, grabbing his head to yank him into a fierce kiss. He took a moment of surprise before he managed to wrap his arms around Keith, drawing him into his embrace and the kiss both.

The kiss ended up breaking off into laughter on both of their ends, happy little giggles they couldn’t keep inside. “Yes,” Keith chokes happily, and a little unnecessarily. “Yes, please… I’ll marry you.”

Even though he’d had an idea Keith would probably agree, Lance still felt overwhelmed with his relief and joy. Keith hadn’t just said yes to a date or something small - he had just agreed to MARRY Lance, to spend the rest of their lives together, to be his husband! “I’m gonna make you so fuckin’ happy, you like, don't even know,” Lance promised, beaming. “Our marriage will be the one that’s so perfect it makes everyone else jealous and bitter, we’ll be so gross together.”

Keith’s laugh was, as always, the most beautiful sound to ever grace Lance’s ears. “You already make me happy.” His soft glowing smile turned into a smirk. “And everyone already thinks we’re gross anyway.”

They managed to stay wrapped up in each other for kind of ungodly too long, but the end result was the photographer ambushing them with a few candid shots, (one of which would later end up framed in their apartment). Keith didn’t have time to compose himself properly, his mascara smeared just the tiniest bit for the entirety of the photoshoot and a bright red blush still spread across his cheeks like a permanent stain.

It was easily Lance’s favorite shoot of all time.

 

\--

[Their costumes, Lance on the left Keith on the Right](https://78.media.tumblr.com/aed2a44b3c7c0975a9cdb2b317c93d0a/tumblr_inline_pfi9t0Iz9H1r52b3z_1280.jpg)


End file.
